Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Why don't they throw curveballs during home run derby?

Do you know that curveballs go further than fastballs? It's not even debatable. The research has been performed and it's an open and shut case. A 75 mph curveball will travel further than an 88 mph fastball. Why?

Well, it goes to reason that a fastball would be hit with more ball exit speed. Absolutely. But, here's the thing. The fastball has backspin from the pitchers perspective. However, from the hitters perspective, it's topspin. So, when a batter hits the bottom half of the ball he changes the direction of the spin. That redirection is important.

Now, let's look at the curveball. The curveball has topspin from the pitchers perspective. That topspin is backspin from the hitters perspective. When the batter hits the bottom half of the ball he accelerates the spin that is already on the ball. This acceleration makes the ball hold its line longer resulting in longer fly balls.

Golfers know that ball spin is king. They are constantly trying to control their ball spin as it dramatically affects how the ball flies. Here is an example that not many people are aware of with respect to baseball.

So, why not have a pitcher simply throw get me over topspin curveballs during home run derby?

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